2008 September | Idle Musings

Archive for September 2008

The Sad Legacy of Bush’s 8 Years

In Politics on Sep-30-2008 with
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Are you better off than you were eight years ago? For the vast majority of the population the answer is not even close:

DOW January 19, 2001: 10,587.59
DOW September 29, 2008: 10,365.45

NASDAQ January 19, 2001 = 2770.38
NASDAQ September 29, 2008 = 1983.73

CPI, January 19, 2001: 175
CPI, September 29, 2008: 219

Dollar exchange with Euro, January 19, 2001: 1.068
Dollar exchange with Euro, September 29, 2008: .695

Oh, and under Bush our national debt has grown 71.9 percent, more than under any previous president.

SNL: Katie Couric/Sarah Palin Interview

In Humor, Video on Sep-28-2008 with
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Why Google Chrome, Why Now

In Technology on Sep-23-2008 with
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The question Google must have asked themselves a couple years ago: Are the current market of browsers good enough to keep up with the needs of Internet users?

Apparently, Google believed the answer was a resounding no. It is easy to see why they came to this conclusion. Not that many years ago people basically viewed static pages, sent e-mail, and ordered a book on-line. Nowadays we’ve moved far past those initial needs.

Google believes that as the needs of Internet users have evolved, the primary tool we use to interact with the Web, browsers, haven’t grown with our needs.

“For how much the Web has evolved, browsers haven’t evolved that much,” says Sundar Pichai, Google’s vice-president of product management. “What we’re trying to do with is make sure the browsers are really evolving with the Web,” he adds.

And oh has the Internet evolved. People now frequent Web sites to manage their finances, run complex customer relationship management systems (CRM), to-do lists, create and build their blogs, manage projects, network with hundreds and even thousands of other people, and even use entire online office suites.

But Internet Explorer and Firefox were created mainly to just browse mostly static pages, not interact and use the Web the way some of us do today and many more will in the future.

So enter Chrome, Google’s new Web browser. It is a stripped down, lighting fast browser that was created to be able to handle sites (insert run faster) that “house” complex applications that are far more than just a static page with text and visuals.

Or in other words Google realizes the ecosystem of the Internet is, or has been changing for a while, and they believe Chrome can be the browser of choice to interact with it. And when you factor in Google’s aggressive move with Gmail and Google Docs, you can see how this makes sense on so many different levels, both directly for themselves and the entire vertical of online applications in general.

In my humble opinion a brilliant move that won’t pay off today or tomorrow, but could have huge benefits in the long term at this point most (including myself) don’t even completely comprehend.

Second Gates & Seinfeld Microsoft Ad

In Advertising, Video on Sep-21-2008 with
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I am sure glad I don’t work in Microsoft’s PR department, and would have to defend these new ads (part of a $300 campaign) featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. The first ad was terrible across the board, barely mentioned Microsoft, and did nothing to tell me why I should like much less purchase their products. The second ad is more of the same.

Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund

In Politics, Video on Sep-20-2008 with
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This is a flat out brutal ad, which focus on Sarah’s Palin support of aerial wolf hunting while governor of Alaska. As an animal lover it is hard to get through the entire thing.

This may well be, without a doubt the most insane, crazy, intense video I’ve every seen online. Picture for a second two guys in power blue leisure suits flying down a hill on skateboards at around 60 MPH. They even pass a freaking car. Fast forward to around 2:20 for the start of the really good stuff.

Google Adds Another SEO Tool

In Technology on Sep-14-2008 with
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This has been out for awhile but forgot to mention it. Google has added another valuable search engine optimization (SEO) tool to their arsenal. Google Insights for Search allows you to compare key words and see how they perform against each other. You can compare:

Categories: narrow data to specific categories, like finance, health, and sports.
Seasonality: anticipate demand for your business so you can budget and plan accordingly.
Geographic Distribution: know where to find your customers. See how search volume is distributed across regions and cities.

You can see some examples of how this might help you here.

WoW: Wrath of the Lich King Trailer

In Gaming, Video on Sep-13-2008 with
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This is like porn for gamers. Porn I tell yeah.

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